London 2012 Olympics: British duo Helen Glover and Heather Stanning set record Games time in heats

It has hung like a hex over our nation’s oarswomen, but Helen Glover and
Heather Stanning are at last poised to banish the reminder that British
rowing has never yet produced a female Olympic champion.

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Great Britain's Heather Stanning, right, and Helen Glover during a women's rowing pair heat in Eton Dorney, near WindsorPhoto: AP

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Set for success: Helen Glover and Heather Stanning before their record-breaking row Photo: GETTY IMAGES

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Race ready: Boats are lined up at the start of a women's rowing pairs' heat in Eton Dorney, near WindsorPhoto: AP

Under pristine turquoise skies here on Saturday, and exhorted by a capacity crowd of 35,000, the women’s pair surged through their heat in an Olympic record time that propelled them towards a golden coronation on Wednesday.

While Glover, a former PE teacher, and Stanning, a captain in the Royal Artillery, form an understated duo, their ruthless dominance at Eton hauled them within sight of a historic accomplishment.

Setting off on an irresistible tear, they could afford to ease off before the finish line and still prevailed in a time of 6min 57.29sec. Not even the cacophony rising from the grandstands in the final 200 metres could derail their remorseless march towards the country’s first rowing gold of these Games.

The magnitude of such a prospect scarcely registered in their unruffled demeanour. They simply radiated the confidence borne of three successive World Cup victories, and of a debut Olympic display that cemented their billing as overwhelming favourites.

“This is our lake,” Glover said. “The experience gave me butterflies. As soon as we reached the 600m mark, we were in the thick of all the spectators. I just felt really proud in that moment. It was our standard of rowing, without the fireworks you expect in a final. We are happy to have executed in the manner we did — we were in control of the whole race.”

The key to their emphatic victory lay in the exacting preparation of coach Robin Williams, who had designed a set of training sessions specifically designed to distract the pair.

Williams, once a lightweight international coach, at one stage instructed a member of the coaching staff to hurl himself in the water in an effort to replicate the febrile atmosphere of a London Olympics.

Nothing, though, could have conditioned Glover and Stanning for their extraordinary reception in the grounds of Eton College, as the galleries cheered them with a raucousness fit for a final.

“They’re mature in racing terms, but immature in Olympic terms,” Williams explained. “They need to make sure that they handle themselves correctly, rather than letting the event ‘kidnap’ them. “So we had a novel session while training, where we tried to create the sense of crowd participation.

"When you come into an Olympic venue of this size, there is lots of colour, lots of noise, and a great deal of people who mean well, but you need a little distraction practice to cope.”

His methods were especially effective for Glover, by her own admission the more emotional and impulsive character of the two.

Where Stanning tends in their partnership to take control of race strategy, the single-minded Glover can be consumed by the intensity of her desire to win. It is a trait that the 26 year-old will need to rein in for Wednesday’s final, given that the Australian boat still poses a formidable threat after winning the second heat in 7 mins 1.60 secs.

Glover and Stanning, buoyed by their trilogy of successes in the World Cup series, have not lost since a slender World Championship defeat to New Zealand in Slovenia last summer.

Scotland’s Stanning, whose brother Alistair had come to their latest race on a stag weekend, reflected: “This was the biggest audience we had ever faced, although we stuck to our race plan. It was a fantastic environment to race in, but we were very much in our own boat.”

It seemed somehow apt, too, that theirs was the very first boat to complete this beguiling Berkshire course in the Olympic regatta. “The first race is always a marker to tell you how well training has gone,” Glover said.

“We were pretty pleased to go out first and put Britain in a good position.”

The record time was assisted by a brisk tailwind and Williams, ever the taskmaster, believed the performance could be enhanced in time for the duel on Wednesday with the Australians.

“There are one or two pieces that we can fix,” he argued, even if he had no complaints about the powerful start that set a tone for the race. “They have always been pretty decent out of the blocks and they kept their heads well. It was a mature race, so I don’t need to say too much. They’re not a crew who need extra reassurance.”

Could Glover and Stanning emerge as Britain’s most eerily composed Olympic gold medallists in memory? This is the grandest stage they will ever grace and yet they have the aura of a couple taking in a mild work-out on the Thames.

One more race remains for them to prove they have the substance of champions.

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Matthew Pinsent - Best performance by Team GB thus far.?Stanning and Glover dominate their rowing heat in the women's pair. Bosh.&lt;/noframe&gt;